One genre of video games is known as “shooter” games, in which players engage in forms of combat using various weapons. Within the shooter genre, the game may be developed in a first person context, in which the player views the scenes through the eyes of the shooter. Alternatively, the game may be architected in a third person context, where the player views the scenes from a camera viewpoint removed from each character.
Some shooter games enable the player to control a squad of characters, rather than just a single character. The player can give an order to a selected character of the squad, and that character carries out the orders without direct intervention from the player. Representative squad-based games include Project Eden, which is developed by Core Design Ltd. and published by Eidos Interactive for Sony's Playstation® game system, and X-Squad, which is developed and published by Electronic Arts for Sony's Playstation® game console.
In squad-based, third-person shooter video games for console-based gaming systems, it is known to support a gaming environment in which a first squad of characters engages in combat with a second squad of characters. Typically, one or more players control the actions of the characters in the first squad while artificial intelligence (AI) controls the actions of the characters in the second squad. This is not conducive, however, to situations where the one or more players controlling the first squad wish to test their skills against that of other players. For instance, one player may wish to challenge another player, “player-to-player”, in their respective commands of a squad of characters. After the game starts, the starting two players may wish to be assisted in their command of the respectively assigned squads by one or more additional players who will respectively join those players midway through the game. The competition can then be characterized as a team of players commanding the first squad in combat against a team of players commanding the second squad. Then, at a later point, one player may wish to leave the game before it is over. Rather than providing for this challenge, conventional squad-based, third-person shooter video games merely match a player controlled squad against AI—not against other players. This player versus machine competition is not satisfying to some players who prefer interpersonal competition.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved squad-based, third-person shooter video game for console-based gaming systems in which one or more players can challenge other players in their command of a respective squad of characters.